How Toxins Affect Your Health!

How Toxins Affect Your Health!

Since the mid 20th century, we have manufactured tens of thousands of toxins and they have been created and released into the environment without much thought about the consequences. Unfortunately, with so many toxins, thinking of your body as impenetrable fortress is very naive. Here are some things to consider on how toxins affect your health.

The Center for Disease Control published a report in 2015 that makes it clear that every human on the planet carries a chemical burden in their system. The Presidents Cancer Panel even stated “To a disturbing extent, babies are born “pre-polluted”. As the suspected and proven health risks tied to industrial chemicals rise, chemical companies put their money where it matters, not on the safety testing or research to develop non-toxic products, but on lobbying to keep their toxic products in wide spread use.

Chemicals can be found in dust, vapor, gas, fumes, mists, liquids and solids. There are chemicals in the water we drink and many of the foods we eat. We bathe in chemicals and rub them on our skin. They are all around us and we usually haven’t been warned what they are.

Roughly 13,000 chemicals are used in cosmetics, of which only 10 percent have been evaluated for safety. It is thought that 1 in 5 cancers may be caused by exposure to environmental chemicals.

The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which took effect in 1976, allows high-production volume chemicals to be launched without their chemical identity or toxicity information being disclosed.

It’s not only chemical companies that are poisoning Americans and the environment. Industrial agriculture is another top polluter that, in many cases, is actually worse than the chemical industry. It’s become clear that environmental chemicals, even at low doses, cause disturbances to hormonal, reproductive and immune systems. Chemicals that have accumulated and persist in the environment- in our food, water, air and household goods – have been linked to cancer, birth defects, learning disabilities, asthma, reproductive problems and more.

How Toxins Affect Your Health

With all the potential sources of toxic chemicals, it is virtually impossible to avoid all of them, but that doesn’t mean you have to sit silently while corporations use your home, your water, your air and your body as a convenient toxin dumping ground. You can significantly limit your exposure to toxins in your life by keeping these key principles in mind.

Eat a diet of locally grown, fresh and ideally organic whole foods. Processed and packaged foods are a common source of chemicals.

Eat fish that is wild caught versus conventional or farm-raised fish, which are often heavily contaminated with PCB’s and mercury. Supplement with a high-quality krill oil.

Buy products that come in glass bottles rather than plastic or cans, as chemicals can leach out of plastics and plastic can lining’s. Be aware the even “BPA-free” plastics typically leach endocrine-disrupting chemicals.

Store your food and beverage in glass and avoid using plastic wrap.

Filter your tap water for both drinking and bathing.

Use a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter to remove contaminated house dust. This is one of the major routes of exposure to flame-retardant chemicals.

Use natural cleaning products or make your own.

Switch over to organic toiletries, including shampoo, toothpaste, antiperspirants, and cosmetics.

Replace your vinyl shower curtain with a fabric one or use glass doors.